On This Day: President Obama bumps fists with a child in the crowd following the ceremony honoring the 2008 World Series Champion Philadelphia Phillies on the South Portico of the White House, May 15, 2009 (Photo by Samantha Appleton)

MY SON DAVID IS FIREFIGHTING THERE AND I HAVE FAMILY IN CARLSBAD WHO EVACUATED YESTERDAY…BUT THEY ARE HOME NOW AND SO FAR…ALL IS WELL…PRAISE GOD FOR HIS PROTECTION…AND PRAYERS UP FOR MY SON WHO WILL BE FACING A MIGHTY LONG AND HOT CALIFORNIA SUMMER WITH HIS CHAINSAW!

Morning. Heavy rains and projected flooding in this part of PA this am. In the photo above, the woman in the white jacket is Allyson Schwartz who’s running for governor. That is the very first time I’ve seen her smile at anything. Shows that our president can charm anyone.

:-) I still haven’t figured out how to post photos directly in to the comments, so I have to create a comment and then rush to the admin section and update it with a pic. There MUST be an easier way!!!

Ugh, you’d need a degree in rocket science to understand all that. No, I’m fine with putting pics in posts and comments through the admin section because you have the ‘insert pic’ option in both, it’s putting them directly in to comments that stumps me. Hush.

mmm – are you saying you are less worth talking to than a dot – I think I would argue against that premise :)

I worry when you are talking about marrying a Giraffe – that’s probably up there with talking to dots – but talking to self is OK as long as you don’t end up having a difference of opinion with self – that can get nasty.

Morning everyone:) Happy THURSDAY:) (I wish it was Friday….) Anyway, thoughts going out to my California neighbors this morning…thinking of them and hoping they are safe from the fires. Terrible, scary situation. Stay safe!!

Hey Chica, I haven’t been around much, but thought I’d say “good morning” We are still raising hell here in Phila. Folks (and these are mostly Dems…. sigh…) are trying to destroy public education. WE.ARE.NOT.HAVING.IT. Big rally this afternoon -4pm at City Hall.

Good for you, isonprize. This is the time we fight back and focus attention on the things we care about–education, health care, the environment, infrastructure, immigration and respect and help for those who need it.

The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits fell last week to its lowest level in seven years, fresh evidence that the labor market was strengthening.

Initial claims for state unemployment benefits declined 24,000 to a seasonally adjusted 297,000 for the week ended May 10, the Labor Department said on Thursday.

That was the lowest reading since May 2007 and brought claims back to their pre-recession level. Claims for the week ended May 3 were revised to show 2,000 more applications received than previously reported.

Economists polled by Reuters had forecast first-time applications for jobless aid ticking up to 320,000 last week.

We had a spectacular example recently of how going too negative can backfire on a candidate, which should serve as a warning to Republicans who think a 100 percent attack focus on the President and his party will work for them in a general election. We have a good candidate for PA governor, Rob McCord, that I and many others supported until he started running vicious attack ads against front runner, Tom Wolf. Rather than hurt Wolf, the ads backfired big time and both McCord’s party support and his polls have plummeted. In the list of things that could hurt Republicans in the fall, I’m adding nastiness because I think that’s their first instinct and the one that most repels middle of the road voters.